Exodus 14:10-1

Parting

Good morning Church.

My name is Brian Kent. If we haven’t met before, it’s great to see you this morning and I hope to get a chance to meet you before you leave today. My family and I have been a part of CTK Blaine since 2021, for the last few years I’ve been the worship director here, and have also had the honor of serving on our advisory board. And I am here preaching today because as many of you know, Pastor Tyler is off this month. He is taking a one month sabbatical, and this is the first of four Sundays that he won’t be with us.

At the end of last year when Tyler started planning for his time off he asked me if I would preach in his absence. I was excited to accept and grab the opportunity to study, prepare, and share the Word of God, as someday I hope to fill a role like Tyler’s role over the last 5+ years as he prepared for, planted, and now pastors here at Blaine CTK. I give a little extra detail about me as I’m preaching today because if you’re new here, or have been away the last month, or we haven’t connected recently, there are some changes that mine and my family are going through. A few months back, God put on my wife and I’s heart a desire to move to Houston, TX in preparation for what we believe is the next chapter in His call for us to eventually plant a church. We believe that He has work for us down there.

So, if for some reason you don’t think my jokes are funny or my floral shirt is a little too flashy for you, don’t worry. I’ll be gone soon. I’m just holding down the fort for a few weeks. Okay, okay. I’m just kidding. Seriously though, my wife and I have loved this church so much, and I am so thankful that three of the next four Sundays I get to share with all of you a few more times about the most important thing in my life: God and His Word.

Jumping into our topic today, as we continue in Exodus.

Our theme in Exodus has been that

God Saves. God Guides. God Redeems.

Last week, Tyler talked about the Passover and our need to trust God, not ourselves. As we learned, Passover is when the Israelites were instructed to paint the blood of a lamb over there doorposts, so that for those who followed the Lord’s instructions, their homes would be passed over, sparing the lives of their firstborn males.

Now for the Egyptians, this instruction was not given, and the firstborn of those houses did not survive the night.

If I may recap a bit to have the state of the Israelites in Egypt fresh in our minds.

Egypt had enslaved the Israelites well before the birth of Moses.

Exodus 1:9–14 (CSB)

He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we are. Come, let’s deal shrewdly with them; otherwise they will multiply further, and when war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.” So the Egyptians assigned taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor... But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. They worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them.

In everything we have been reading about Moses the last few weeks, this oppression has continued, and even gotten worse. Moses by the instruction of the Lord has been working to set God’s people, the Israelites, free. And after the Passover, Pharoah finally frees them.

Now we are in the literal lower-case exodus part of the book of Exodus. The Israelites are leaving Egypt.

And what happens next is an amazing example of just how awesome God is. As T. Desmond Alexander puts it,

“The conflict between [God] and Pharaoh over the fate of the Israelites climaxes in this section” - ApOTC Ex. p. 280

So, after the Passover, Pharoah tells Moses to take his people and go. Get out of here. And as you read in the Passover section, part of what they prepared for that night was to leave quickly the next morning.

Now that they are leaving, God goes ahead of the Israelites to lead the way, by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night a pillar of fire.

Talk about a “God where should I go, what should I do?” answer to prayer.

As they journey along, eventually, Pharoah realizes that he has released his slave work force, and he decides he actually still wants them. So, he rallies his army, brings out the chariots, and they go after the Israelites.

At this point the Israelites are at the edge of the Red Sea, so as the Egyptians approach, the Israelites are pinned with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian army behind

They’re not equipped to fight. They’re probably tired. And the army barreling down on them is one that they know all too well the power of.

But before the Egyptians reach the Israelites, God moves the pillar of cloud between the Egyptians and the Israelites, blocking the Egyptians from reaching them.

And then, God parts the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:21–22 (CSB)

...Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

So the Israelites are walking across the bottom of the sea, with water on both sides.

And when the Egyptians follow, God uses the Pillar of Cloud and Fire to throw them into confusion giving the Israelites enough time to cross. After that, we read that Moses stretches out his hand once again, the water rushes back into place, and the Egyptians are wiped away. The Red Sea now separates the Israelites from their former oppressors.

It’s an amazing story. A true act of God. Easily one of the most well known and significant stories in the Old Testament.

That may have been the first time hearing this story for some of you. For some, the millionth time. For later generations in Israel, it was one that was told to the community and among families over and over again.

It’s such a great story that it’s been made into movies. One is the animated classic, the Prince of Egypt.

I realize that some of you are maybe a little more old school and you go with the 3.5 hour Ten Commandments movie from the 50’s. But honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever watched any movie, or even tried, that’s that long.

Talk about seeing this movie a lot and learning the story from it.

Now, I’m not implying that movies or other types of adaptations can’t be helpful in learning about and helping us remember Bible stories. Take for example the Prince of Egypt, or the new series many of you have probably watched, “The Chosen.” Those are great artistic expressions of Bible stories, and can be helpful in teaching the story. And there are also others that are in no way accurate or helpful such as Russell Crowe’s box office flop, “Noah”.

Anyone watch that one?

But it’s like watching any movie based on a book. Like the Harry Potter movies, or the Lord of the Rings. Any Harry Potter Book fan, or Tolkien literature nut will tell you, the movies leave out a lot of stuff from the book.

Same goes for the movies and shows based on the Bible. No matter how good the adaptation, there is always something missed.

Now for Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, the parts that are not included might be that a fun but insignificant character is left out, or a minor plot line is neglected or even changed. And for good reason. They need to make a good movie. A good story. And it needs to be packaged just right for your entertainment. In some cases, the movie might even be making an improvement from the book.

The Bible has a different priority.

God didn’t leave anything out of the Bible because it, “didn’t fit,” or “wasn’t what the scene needed.” Or even lacked entertainment value. The Bible is perfectly written.

The Bible has everything God wants to be in it. Nothing less, nothing more.

That’s why there is no substitute for learning it other than reading, hearing, and studying it.

So, let’s not miss what’s happening in the part of the story we’re at today in Exodus. Let’s look at a not so Hollywood moment.

The Egyptians are approaching the Israelites, in full battle gear, and the Israelites see them, and probably assume they’re coming to kill them.

Exodus 14:10–12 (CSB)

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

The Israelites were in Egypt for all of the miracles Moses did. The river turning to blood. The frogs coming out of the water. The Passover. They were led out of Egypt by a pillar like cloud and pillar of fire.

And what do they say when things get tough.

“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?.. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Now, if some of you are movie buffs, or story writing, you might be thinking, “hey, character development. Everybody’s gotta like, you know, develop, get better as the story goes along.”

I bring this up because, when we read this part of the story in Exodus, in the middle of all the amazing things that God does, the Israelites do something that is, well. Super lame. The kind of thing where if a Hollywood director was making a movie about God’s people, the Israelites, for God’s people, the Israelites, and eventually all those who believe in Christ. Well, the director either wouldn’t put this part in or he would make it like a character flaw, like where in the beginning of the story you’re like, “oh my gosh, that Michael Scott character has no redeeming qualities,” but then at the end of the story you’re like, “I love him. I can’t believe he’s going to be gone, he’s so great.”

That’s an office reference for those who missed it.

Not here though. What the Israelites do here happens over and over again, throughout Exodus and in the books that follow.

Spoiler alert, even after God delivers them through the sea, it won’t be long before they start grumbling to him again, wishing to be back in Egypt.

If you’re reading through the Old Testament, it’s easy to get frustrated with the Israelites. Exodus, Judges, 1,2, Kings, Chronicles, All the prophets. Like, c’mon guys. Just get it right already.

Tell the story about Kaleb Cuevas, how he always said “we already tried that and it didn’t work.” Or, “well, that wasn’t our fault because what I said would happen happened… we should have just done it like we always have”.

It feels like the Israelites have a similar attitude of “This sucks, I knew it would, and we should have just not tried anything new.”

For those of you with Type A personalities you’re sitting there like, “never, I would never.”

Eventually, I learned about those meetings, that I was also, contributing poorly.

I was a sales manager, and my objections were more like, “that benefits the website but not the sales team.” Or, “the sales team doesn’t think that will be easy to pitch over the phone.” Or as I’m a little embarrassed to admit "We tried that once and it doesn’t work over the phone.”

I was no different than the marketing manager I was so critical of. And honestly, my attitude was like the Israelites. “This is the worst. I knew it would be. And we shouldn’t have tried anything new.”

I shouldn’t have judged that guy that I worked with. And God didn’t add all of Israels struggles, shortcomings, and embarrassing moments to the Bible so that we could judge them.

Jesus talked about judging others a lot when He was here on earth. They are words that I need often to be reminded of.

In Matthew we read Jesus saying Matthew 7.1-5

Matthew 7:1–5 (CSB)

“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

I think when Jesus tells us not judge, he isn’t just talking about people who are alive today. We shouldn’t judge those we are reading about in history either.

I recently took a class on science fiction and time travel, this was not for seminary. My undergrad is in English… and one of the first things we had to recognize that science fiction must be read with an understanding of the scientific knowledge of the time. So when you read about a flying ship like this one, you don’t think, “Those idiots. Obviously that won’t fly.” Well yeah. Since this picture was drawn we can give thanks to the Wright brothers, a century of military research, Boeing company, and a trip to the moon to help us with what we we now know... that this picture from 1890-something is not possible.

But how were they supposed to know that. With the knowledge they had then, all they knew was that flying was a mathematical possibility.

So when we read that the Israelites were scared and grumbling as an army of Egyptians were charging toward them, in a fashion that they interpreted understandably as coming to kill them. Can’t blame them for their first thought being, hey Moses, you think God could just like, move the waters so we could walk through.

Instinct and even logic gives good reason for them to think they might be about to die. So yeah, with that thought process they would rather be slaves than dead.

Have you never said, “things would be better if...” Or, “things were better back before...”

Don’t tell me you’ve never sat at work on a horrible day in the office, or with the kids, or whatever, and thought to yourself, “Man, I remember when I was a teenager, hanging with my friends.” Or maybe, “when I was in my twenties and didn’t have any responsibility or a spouse to tell me what to do.”

Now pause there for a second. Are you sure you’re remembering all of that correctly. Like, you want to go through puberty again? All those feelings? Body changes? Awkward moments? If you’re answer is still yes, you might be suffering from nostalgia.

Would I pay $5,000 to go back and have a weekend with my boys cruising our bikes down the street. Heck yes. And would I pay $1,000,000 to not have to go back to when I farted on the first day of gym class and the girl I liked laughed at me and called me out for it so for the next week I hid from her by staying on the other side of the gym until she asked me why I was avoiding her.

Yes, I want to go back to high school, cause sometimes my job is tough. Of course I’d love to travel back and spend a day riding bikes as a kid with my best friends.

But you and I both know that there is more to life than just play. Ask the high schoolers in the room today. You think they aren’t looking forward to, wondering about, dreaming about, maybe even planning for when they’re an adult.

I’m not saying that being nostalgic or remembering our past isn’t a good thing. It’s not. But we all know that everything in our past life wasn’t super peachy and great. Some parts of our past are probably horribly. Certain times you hope to never have to go back to, let alone remember.

Yet when life gets really hard, like Egyptian army charging towards and you have nowhere to go kind of hard, would it be so shocking to feel a little bit nostalgic of like, any other time? Is it really farfetch’d to think that none of us have ever redefined some part of our past simply for the chance to say, “it would have been better if.”

Now, some of you might be wondering, “is Brian making excuses for the Israelites.”

And I’m not. I am in no way saying what they did or said was right.

The Israelites were scared. What was happening around them with the pillar of cloud and fire, as cool as it is to read about, was probably bit terrifying as well. And did the Israelites sin by doubting God and grumbling that there was a better way than His. YES! Heck yes.

But if we could just jump back to Jesus’ words for just a second.

Matthew 7:3 (CSB)

Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?

Have you not been scared. Have you never wished for the past because God’s way was hard.

As one scholar puts it, “The Israelites were simply thinking the way most people think of the past when the present seems unbearable.”

We have no room to judge.

When we really stop and consider what is going on in history, throughout the Bible and even elsewhere. The value of learning from history and what those before us did does not come from judging them.

And especially in the Bible. Because as soon as we judge these people we are missing out on learning about God. When you judge history you make it about you. Make it about God.

And what does God do in the midst of Israels doubt and grumbling, He saves them.

He does one of the most amazing miracles ever recorded and parts the sea so that a mass of people could walk across it, on the bottom of the ocean floor.

There is a way that we can also learn from history like this that is in a way about us. By considering ways that we have or could make a similar mistake.

So why do we find sometimes ourselves doubting. Believing that the past is better. Grumbling to God that there He should have left us where we were.

This happens when we trust in the world, trust in ourselves, more than we trust God.

Thing is, I think that we all want to trust God. We want to trust Him more. When times are difficult we hope that we will trust in God, and not grumble our doubt like the Israelites.

So what can we do to strengthen that trust in God, so that it shows up in the hardest of times?

The more time you spend in communion with God (reading/studying His Word, Prayer, contemplating who He is, obedience, etc) the easier it is to distinguish between trusting in God’s plan and trusting in your plan.

The depth of our trust in God, is dependent on our relationship with Him. Does that mean God won’t lead us through tough times if I am not close to Him? Not at all. Look at the Israelites who were doubting him here. The Holy Spirit is more than able to work without you and your trust.

And who among the Israelites had a close relationship with God? Moses. And here is how he responds to their grumbling.

Exodus 14:13–14 (CSB)

But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

Moses, despite having reason to be afraid because of the nearing Egyptians, He had more reason to NOT be afraid, because he knew that God would deliver them. Moses understands that

Your circumstances are not the standard for how you should view God.

When you are pinned against the wall, beaten down, in the midst of tragedy, sick, tired, whatever.

Our circumstances are not the standard for how we should view God.

So what is the standard for how we should view?

That answer is very simple. What the Bible says about God.

There’s no secret text. Number combination in the stars. Special prophesy to be interpreted.

God has revealed Himself in His Word, the Bible.

And as we talked about earlier, being in relationship with God directly impacts our trust in Him. Therefore, reading and studying the Bible to know God more, dwelling on who God is, praying about, and in response to who He is. These things will bring us into relationship with Him and shape our expectation of Him.

So let’s go into something about God that the Bible tells us that impacts our standard of Him. Let’s start changing our expectation and understanding of God, right now. Today. Change it from our circumstances to what God says about Himself in His Word.

In Revelation 22 Jesus tells us.

Revelation 22:13 (CSB)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

Jesus, who is God in flesh is the beginning and the end. Creator of all things. This is one of many times that this is stated about God throughout Scripture. That’s why God can be the creator of all things. Because he is before all things. That’s why He knows all things, because He in the end.

Now, there are a lot of other verses, and explanation to this that I could give, but for today, I’m going to get straight to the point: God is outside of time.

He is eternal.

As we sang last week, “My God Outside of Time.”

So what does that change? Is it just something to know? An answer to a trivia question.[?

Why do you think our initial reaction to the Israelites grumbling about the Egyptians coming might be, “C’mon guys, just trust. God’s this.”

Because we know the next part in the story.

How can we hang a cross up on our wall that symbolizes the very way that Jesus died? Because we know what came next. That Jesus not only died for our sins, but rose again so that we might live with Him forever.

Do you see what I’m getting at? God is the beginning and the end. He knows. When you see no reason for hope in front of you and He says, “Trust me. Obey my commands. Pray about it. Worship me through this difficult time.” He is seeing what we have yet to see.

When we look at this broken world and think how could this ever be made right. How could there be a God that would let this happen.

God is outside of time. He knows where all this is going. He knows that all will be made right. He gets it, cause He has been here since the beginning and is there in the ending.

God’s not predicting that he’s going to beat the devil. It’s not a boxing match, and it all comes down to when they’re finally in the ring. He’s been there, He knows.

So when He says believe and you are saved. When you said “God I give my life to you” and He came into your life and filled you with the Holy Spirit. He knew we’d be here today. He chose you even though He knew you wouldn’t be perfect, even after giving your life to Him. And He knows that you will be with Him in eternity.

Now imagine if when you read your Bible, when you prayed, when you went through moments in your day, imagine how being thoughtful that God is the beginning and the end has the potential to change the way you do, and understand, and trust God in those things.

Our knowledge of God directly impacts every part of our relationship with Him, with others, with the world, and even with ourselves.

The more we know about who God is, the easier it becomes to trust Him, even in the most difficult of times.

And for those of you that are seeking, asking questions. Trying to figure out this whole God thing. What if you took something the Bible said about Him and just thought about it for a day. What if you took something God says about you. That He loves you, that He has good things for you. That you are worth saving, so much so that He sent His son to do just that.

My challenge for the rest of you this week, is to think about God being outside of time. The beginning and the end. What does that mean? And I don’t mean that in a scientific try to explain it way.

But I mean in your life. How you trust God. How you pray. Read the Bible. Think about your past. Your future. Your loved ones.

God’s plan for redemption is real, and He knows. He’s seen the end, it’s already been written.